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Chapter 628 – The Situation in Eastern Theonia (I)
He was a chieftain with a close relationship with Archonis, and his question caused the panicking chieftains to focus their expectant eyes on Archonis.
Archonis then took over the subject, “What should we do?! We should gather the warriors, form a powerful army, declare war on Theonia and take back everything we, Sikeloi, lost!”
The chieftains were surprised again.
But an elderly chieftain reminded, “Chief Archonis, don’t forget how Theonia was able to defeat the mighty Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, ten years ago. And now, the kingdom of Theonia is much stronger! So how can we, just a tribe, stand against the mighty kingdom of Theonia?!”
As some of the chieftains were about to nod, Archonis immediately said, “Who says we would fight Theonia on our own?! We have Carthage behind us, who is equally powerful!”
As soon as they heard those words, all the chieftains were surprised.
Archonis then held his head high as he took out a letter. After handing it to a nearby chieftain, the other chieftains, regardless of their status, came closer one after another.
Archonis then loudly said, “The Carthaginians told us that they would intervene in this war and fight for our, Sikeloi’s, independence as long as we rise against Theonia.”
But another chieftain said, “The Carthaginians are just using us!”
Archonis sneered, “Carthage is using us, but we are also using them. Otherwise, how could we capture Kephaloidion and Enna so easily…”
Some chieftains suddenly realised that the Carthaginians had long been helping the Tanikian tribe. Otherwise, how could this tribe that the Sikeloi was about to abandon able to expand into a powerful tribe in just a few years? Thus they became afraid.
“Chieftains, you should already understand the situation. And now it is the time for us to take action!” Archonis looked at the crown and said emphatically, “Go and gather the warriors of your tribes here. Afterwards, we will attack Agyrium!”
‘Attack Agyrium?!’ The chieftains were all somewhat shocked as Agyrium was the largest town of Sikeloi, which is difficult to attack because of its large population and high walls.
Then Archonis said to a middle-aged chieftain on his left side with respect, “Uncle Scykepus, are you fine with this?”
“There is no problem. As soon as your army attacks Agyrium, my tribe could immediately cooperate with you.”
Someone recognised him, resulting in his expression changing slightly. He is Scykepus, the chieftain of the great Telake tribe of Agyrium! Then he remembered that Archonis was the son of Agileus, the former king of Sikeloi, and Agyrium was the royal capital of the Sikeloi back then. Although Dionysius poisoned Agileus and destroyed the kingdom of Sikeloi, how could Archonis have no supporters left in the city of Agyrium?!
“We will return to our tribe immediately and gather the people.” The chieftains, who each had their concerns, expressed in successions.
But Archonis said, “You don’t need to go back. Instead, send your subordinates to do those tasks because I will hold a banquet in the city and would like to invite all of you to join me.”
The various chieftains’ expressions changed as they knew Archonis was forcing them to stand with him.
But after seeing the heavily armed warriors pouring into the hall, most of the chieftains chose to obey obediently. After all, Archonis led his army to break through several towns and occupied many tribal settlements in recent years. At the same time, those chieftains who dared to resist died by his sword, while those who survived were cowards that helped him to deceive Theonia, so how dare they resist him now?
At this moment, a guard hurriedly came in and whispered a few words to Archonis. Earlier, he was still proudly looking at the embarrassed expression of the chieftains. But now, his face was filled with shock after his subordinate told him that the Eighth Legion of Theonia had suddenly marched into Agyrium.
This unexpected news messed up his original plan, so he immediately discussed it with Scykepus nervously.
But even the domineering Scykepus looked flustered after receiving the report from his confidant that the enemy blockaded the city of Agyrium and they could not get in touch with the tribes inside.
After some tense discussions, Archonis immediately announced to the chieftains that they should send their men back to gather their troops and must bring them to Kephaloidion tomorrow.
Still, he continued to hold the banquet to assuage the bewildered chieftains.
Near the end of the banquet that lasted for several hours, the guards brought another bad news, making the slightly drunk Archonis go out of control and throw his mug.
The occupation of Enna by the Eighth Legion of Theonia had made him lose himself and caused the chieftains to panic. At the same time, several chieftains cried out bitterly, which caused the joyous atmosphere of the banquet to disappear.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
After receiving the Gerousia’s decision and discussing it with Agesilaus, the already fifty-year-old Cheirisophus hurried to the port and took a transport ship to Theonia.
With the transport ship sailing along the west coast of the Peloponnese Peninsula for the whole night, it managed to cross the Adriatic Sea and docked at the ‘heel’ of the Italian peninsula the following morning: This is Otranto, a town belonging to the kingdom of Theonia.
After a night’s rest, Cheirisophus regained his energy. He then disembarked and strolled around the port leisurely.
Otranto was formerly a Messapian city-state that was rarely known by the Greeks even though it was close to the Adriatic Sea. With Brindisi and Mesagne as the famous maritime trading city-states of the Messapians, Otranto, on the other hand, had few Greek merchants willing to stop here because of its uneven terrain that made transport difficult. But after Theonia conquered the Messapian region, this place gradually became famous.
In the port, Cheirisophus saw numerous docked ships to the point it was so crowded. Then on the quay were labourers running back and forth while carrying goods. Occasionally, they would make mistakes that would cause the ship owner to shout at them, even causing some conflicts. Hence the guards had to stay in the port to maintain order. That just shows that the people of Otranto had not yet adapted to such a busy port.
Cheirisophus also noticed many Illyrians in the port, so he became curious at how these unwelcome and barbaric races called ‘bandits’ and ‘pirates’ by the Greeks were present in such a large number.
The town of Otranto was also quite lively as the streets were filled with alien races, Cretans, Corinthians, Epirote, Kerkyrians…there are also quite a few merchants from the Peloponnese here. But Cheirisophus wasn’t surprised; after all, the vast, populous and resource-rich kingdom of Theonia offered great opportunities to Greek merchants, which caused these greedy merchants to flock to it. And Otranto was the closest Theonian town to Greece.
In Otranto, most of the shops are wagon shops. And soon, Cheirisophus understood it after he thought about how Otranto had formed a vague concept in the impression of the Greeks in the eastern Mediterranean as the first town they would travel overland to Thurii, the centre of Theonia, and other places. It is also cheap to take a carriage here as Messapi was abundant with horses.
Cheirisophus then hired a carriage and headed to Taranto.
Although the coachman was a Messapian who stammered when speaking Greek and wasn’t very talkative, he still gave out a lot of information under the deliberate inquiry of Cheirisophus.
When Theonia first annexed Otranto, the Messapians rebelled against Theonia’s rule, which caused a relative of the coachman to die in the revolt. After suffering from the Theonian soldiers’ swords and spears, the people of Otranto gradually changed their method and chose silent confrontation. And even though the Theonian-appointed praetor of Otranto, Nicomachus, declared that ‘By the decree of Theonia, all the tribes are to be abolished and the people of Otranto shall be given their independence…’ The people of Otranto were suspicious as they waited to see the joke of the Theonians because although the people of Otranto were few, according to the ‘Theonian Law’ that Nicomachus stated, each citizen of Otranto would have 3,333 square metres of land allocated to them. However, the narrow and barren land of Otranto wasn’t enough.
But the short-sighted people of Otranto didn’t expect the praetor to give them their share of land. Furthermore, it wasn’t the barren lands in the mountains but the lands on the plain that weren’t far from Otranto. Those lands used to belong to other city-states, but now they belonged to Otranto under the governance of the kingdom of Theonia. Thus for the first time, the people of Otranto felt the benefits of joining Theonia.
Then the next benefit followed, ‘All Messapians who would become citizens of Theonia will be exempted from tax for two consecutive years!’ Furthermore, praetor Nicomachus told them that ‘all those who do not know how to farm shouldn’t worry as the Ministry of Agriculture will send someone to teach them, and if they are short of labour, they can also go to the just established Bank of Cheiristoya in the city to take out a loan and then go to Taranto to purchase slaves with experience in farming.’
Taranto, the sworn enemy of Messapi, who would kill each other if they met, was now under Theonia’s rule! (the Messapians don’t understand what a ‘Free City’ is and thought that Theonia had fully integrated Taranto.)
Then some bold people of Otranto went to the Bank of Cheiristoya for a loan and headed to Taranto. Although the Tarantine looked at them angrily and cursed, they didn’t go too far as the guards were protecting their safety. In the end, these people successfully bought slaves and returned to Otranto without any problems. Once the news spread, a commotion arose in the whole place: ‘That’s Taranto! The city we Messapians had been trying to capture for a hundred years! Yet they could easily go inside and take a stroll?!!’